YouTube has been taking a tougher stance against ad blockers in recent months. Now it is experimenting with new systems to make it harder for users to avoid ad blockers. The latest of these initiatives will be server-side ad injection.
YouTube will fight ad blockers with server-side ad injection
YouTube is working on server-side ad injection, a method that inserts ads directly into the video stream. With this method, ads are inserted directly into videos, making it difficult for ad blockers. Ad blocking tools can be rendered inoperable by the shifting of video timestamps with ad durations.
Server-side ad injection makes it difficult for ad blockers to detect where ads start and end. This could prevent ad blocking tools as well as other ad-skipping plugins from working. It could also make YouTube’s built-in ‘Skip Ad’ button obsolete.
SponsorBlock, one such tool, says that this doesn’t mean the end of ad blocking tools, but it will make them much more difficult to implement. Some users on the uBlock Origin subreddit on Reddit report that they are encountering ads even when the plugin is running.
Another method YouTube is experimenting with is restricting access to watch videos without logging in. According to a bug logged on the NewPipe GitHub page, Google started asking some users to log in before watching videos. This appears with the message “Sign in to verify you are not a bot”.
Which Apple devices will no longer receive software updates in 2024? Find out which iPhones, iPads, and Macs won't be supported.
YouTube requiring users to sign in before they can watch content could negatively impact third-party apps. It could negatively impact the way YouTube videos shared across the web are viewed.
While the Cobalt developers have found a way around the login restrictions, future YouTube changes are likely to render this and similar tools obsolete again.
Both methods are still in the testing phase, and it’s unclear when YouTube will implement these measures more broadly. What do you think? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
